5 Ways to Save on Back to School Shopping

As we head into the heart of the back to school shopping season, it's time to start saving money. After all, consumers will spend an average of $688 on back to school related expenses, compared to about $600 last year, according to the National Retail Federation.

Here's what you need to know before you hit the stores:

1. Say No to Department Store Credit Cards: Even though you'll receive a 10-15% discount when using a store credit card, these cards have very high interest rates, sometimes 20-30% and are usually littered with hidden fees. Keeping a balance on the card for just few weeks will erase any savings from the card's store discount. Plus, opening too many credit cards within a short period of time will damage your credit score.

2. Discounted Gift Cards: You can purchase a $100 gift card to various stores for only $80, by visiting sites like PlasticJungle.com. PlasticJungle is now selling a $130 gift card at JC Penney for $110 - that's a 15% savings. The website will mail you the gift card - always free shipping.

3. Coupons from Twitter: Major retailers are posting exclusive coupons on Twitter. It can be difficult to find deals with the millions of tweets posted every day. CouponTweet.com aggregates the best deals from Twitter (over 25 million of them) and puts them onto one convenient site. You can search for coupons/deals from Twitter by category (computers, clothing, shoes, restaurants, etc). You don't even need to be on Twitter to use the site!

4. Stick to a strict shopping list, but not necessarily to the supply list the school provides: Sometimes the school supply lists that schools give to the parents are excessive. Carefully review what is on the list and anything that seems redundant, don't buy. And check out Walmart's new "88-cent" section that's featured in many locations - where various types of school supplies (notebooks, pencils, folders) are on sale for 88 cents!

5. College Textbooks: Incoming college students will have to spend hundreds, if not a few thousand dollars on textbooks! Use HelpSaveMyDollars.com's free Textbook Search Engine - simply type in the name of the book or the book's ISBN number and the search engine will find the retailer or online site that sells that book for the lowest price.